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5 Things to Do to Get Ready for Spring

'Tis the season for cleaning, reading, and—unfortunately—sneezing. Win at spring with these tips, tricks, and twists.

By

Kristen Mascia

March 2019

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Photo: mayura benjarattanapakee / Shutterstock

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Good news: Spring wildflowers are coming. Bad news: So is pollen.

1. Banish your sniffles. More than 50 million people in the United States experience seasonal allergies. Manage pollen levels inside your house by closing windows, kicking off shoes at the door, and showering before bed.

2. Smell your roses. Or lilacs or gardenias—assuming you don’t have allergies! (See above.) When spring hits full bloom, plan a picnic among petals. Discover 14 of the West’s most stunning gardens.

3. Enlist your dishwasher. While you’re in springcleaning mode, run a load of plastic toys, utensil trays, sponges, and scrub brushes. You can even freshen up rubber flipflops ahead of the warm weather; hook them securely to the top rack and turn off heated dry.

4. Take stock of your stuff. It’s a wise move to inventory everything in your home, in case you ever have to file an insurance claim. Do it quickly by recording a video tour on your phone and saving it to the cloud. For more insurance information and resources, visit AAA.com.

5. Choose your book. Mar. 2 is Read Across America Day. Bury your nose in an old favorite, or plan a trip to a literary destination. California’s Monterey waterfront is the setting of John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row. The Blackfoot River in Missoula, Mont., is where Norman Maclean cast for trout in A River Runs Through It.

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